My wife and recently returned from our honeymoon in Italy and have been trying to track down a fabulous bottle of Italian Sparkling Wine/Champagne that we had in Florence that was called "Blu di Blu" and haven't had any luck. The resturant we were at told us that the sparkling wine was only available in that region. I've been looking on the web and haven't been able to find it listed anywhere. I was wondering if anyone could help.

TW, first of all you've got to realize that context is everything and there are few more influential contexts than your honeymoon: I am willing to bet that even if we DID get you that wine you would say "somehow it doesn't taste the same". It's not the wine, it's the fact that you are back at work and not making love three times a day between eating great food in beautiful scenery.... We see this A LOT!

Secondly, and this really concerns me, did that stuff come in one of those cobalt blue bottles? If so, that is the WORST possible thing for sparkling wine (which is very succeptable to harm from Ultra-Violet light) and it will probably not travel well!

We specialize in both Italian and Sparkling wines so we are pretty up on the area where those two worlds cross and no one has tried to sell it to us here.

No the bottle was clear...the wine itself was blue...it was the strangest thing, I've had champagne/Sparkling Wine before and aside from the Moet Chandon Nectar (I believe that's the proper name) this was far better than anythign I've ever had. Our tour guide said it was a common appertif to be drank before dinner (while we were all still sober).

We brought back several bottles of wine and the two we have tried still had the "flavor" that we experienced in Italy.

TW, that liquid is no longer "wine" if it is blue, it has been chemically altered and is now some sort of wine-based aperitif. If your tastes run as sweet as Moet Nektar, I suggest you try some Moscato d'Asti right away, it's delicious and cheap....

Wait a year and then try one of those honeymoon wines, you'll see what I mean.....

A blue wine? Nah, I sense some of you thinking, Texas Wook is just trying to wind us up! But he ain't! I cannot claim to have tasted Blu di Blu, but I have come across it. Not in Italy, but in Eastern Europe. It is a pre-mixed fizzy cocktail with a peach flavour and an alcoholic strength of 6 or 6.5% if I remember correctly. Nothing much in common with Moet's Nectar (yes, spelt correctly), except a certain sweetness. Personally, I would not bother to seek it out, but if you want something similar there are plenty of this type of thing. Les Societe Remoise des Vins produces a range of flavoured sparkling wines, including a Peach-flavoured one, under the Croisiere label. These wines claim to b e Brut but really are quite sweet. There is even blue Croisiere, which I declared "Best Blue Wine of the Year" in 1995. I should hasten to add that this was written with my tongue firmly in cheek (pretty difficult if you're not a cat). I described Croisiere Curacao Brut (the blue being more turqoise and coming from the Curacao, which gives the wine is orange flavour) as "This unique product must be recommended for its class, which should enable it to fit unobtrusively between the Greek liqueurs and the Mateus Rose lampshade, on the corner bar in the lounge of Mr & Mrs Nouveau Riche."

I can't believe I've taken the trouble to write this, but all my deadlines have been done and dusted and there is nearly three weeks to wait before I go on holiday ....

Aside from rejecting cobalt blue bottles out of hand as marketing gimmicks, I always remember how when I was in kindergarten they taught us that "Blue = Blagh!!!" as in Windex and Draino and stuff like that was poison!